In a Stressed City, No Room at the Bar

By MARIAN BURROS

Published: December 5, 2001

THEY were three deep at Guastavino's bar last Thursday night, downing flirtinis, cucumber martinis and patriots, a red, white and blue martini suitable for the times. Bartenders kept up a steady beat -- mix, mix, mix -- while waiters rushed to deliver trays of frothy daiquiris and coffee martinis.

It wasn't unusual.

Almost three months after the terrorist attacks, New Yorkers are drinking more than ever. Even as restaurants struggle with empty seats and fewer diners willing to pay high tabs, liquor sales are climbing at bars, restaurants and some liquor stores throughout the city.

At a few places -- a diverse list including Pravda, the Regency Hotel and McSorley's -- liquor sales were 25 percent higher last month than they were in November 2000. And as the holiday season gets into full swing, the numbers are bound to increase.

''People who were drinking three drinks are now having four or five,'' said Richard Schertzer, a senior bartender at Pastis, the brasserie in the meatpacking district. ''They are drinking more martinis and fancy cocktails than before, even late at night, at 1 or 2 in the morning.''

''The mood is different,'' he added. ''Once people get out and see a few smiling faces around, they take it as a nice escape and use it to have a bit more fun.''

Whether people are drinking to relieve anxiety and stress, as psychiatrists believe, or because they want to socialize more and drinking is part of that, all over town bars are fuller and livelier. There's more hard liquor and less high-end wine; more big groups and fewer singles. People are staying later, locked in late-night conversation rather than giddy revelry.

The dramatic rise in consumption of alcoholic beverages immediately after Sept. 11 was a nationwide phenomenon, liquor distributors and others in the business say. But nowhere was it more evident than in New York. After the first couple of weeks, there was a significant drop -- until last month, when business came back, with a vengeance. Not only was it up in Manhattan and in some of the boroughs but also in nearby Long Island and Connecticut suburbs.

Discus, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, plans to release national consumption figures next year. But ACNeilsen, which also tracks national retail sales of wine and spirits, reports that the sales volume of alcoholic beverages has been up every week since Sept. 11 compared with last year. For the week ending Nov. 3, the most recent figure available, volume rose 4.2 percent.

''At first, people felt a little uneasy and didn't want to appear to be celebrating -- now I think there is a certain nervous fatigue that propels people,'' said Kurt Eckert, the wine director for Jean-Georges Vongerichten's five New York restaurants, where liquor sales were up 3 to 4 percent. ''People are a bit relieved, but the recent plane crash, anthrax in addition, have left people a bit shaken. There has been a drop in the number of people dining, but they are ordering more wine.''

At Guastavino, business in the restaurant is down, but business at the bar last month was up 10 percent compared with a year ago. The restaurant is staying open later on weekends and has installed a disc jockey. At McSorley's, where the average customer drinks 8 to 10 glasses of ale, business has picked up substantially in the afternoons, according to Matthew Maher, the owner.

''If you walk into Smith & Wollensky, you think it's a great night because you can't get near the bar,'' said Alan Stillman, chairman of the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, ''but the restaurant is not full. More liquor is being consumed by fewer people.''

And at many places, the cast of characters is quite different. Guastavino, for example, was long known as one of the best pickup spots in town. Since Sept. 11, the revelers have been coming in groups of three or five, even eight, eager to be with their friends.

Like Karla Koontz, 27, who is unemployed. ''I think I'm hanging out more because I want the company,'' she said. ''It's not so much partying at clubs late, it's more good conversation.''

Many, who at first laughed nervously when asked if they were drinking more, and wanted to make certain no one thought they were drinking too much, eventually acknowledged that their consumption had increased, if only because they were going out more. For a lot of people -- even 20- and 30-somethings, who in the past thought they were immortal -- Sept. 11 was an awakening.

''I used to be health-conscious,'' said Mark Booker, a 36-year-old real estate investor, sitting at a table in the Pastis bar. ''I used to work out; now I don't give a damn. I used to go out twice a month; now I go out twice a week. It's friends coming together to embrace each other. And the reason I am drinking more is because I'm out more.''

Sitting with two friends at Guastavino's bar, Marty Majchrowicz, 33, the president of a medical education company in New York, said he was spending a lot more time with friends. ''I'm feeling less inhibited and feeling less guilty about going out and drinking,'' he said. ''I'm feeling an obligation to spend more money in the city. I'm eating out more often, about four nights a week, and drinking more cocktails, two or three.''